California Panel: No Coverage Owed For Suits Alleging Liability For Opioid Epidemic

(November 9, 2017, 9:40 AM EST) -- SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California appeals panel on Nov. 6 affirmed a lower court’s finding that commercial general liability insurers have no duty to defend pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors against two underling lawsuits alleging that they engaged in a fraudulent scheme to promote the use of opioids for long-term pain to increase corporate profits, finding that the underlying actions can be read only as being based on the insureds’ deliberate and intentional conduct that produced injuries that were neither unexpected nor unforeseen (The Traveler's Property Casualty Company of America, et al. v. Actavis Inc., et al., No. G053749, Calif. App., 4th Dist., Div. 3, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 976)....